Must one re-perform prayers that were offered while sunscreen was on the skin, knowing that enumerating them is difficult?
Everything that prevents water from reaching the parts of the body to be purified for ablution (Wudu') must be removed, based on the Almighty's saying: (O you who have believed, when you rise to [perform] prayer, wash your faces and your forearms to the elbows and wipe over your heads and wash your feet to the ankles) Al-Ma'idah/6.
That which prevents water from reaching [the skin] is anything that has a physical substance (matter and density) and does not dissolve with water. As for that which has no substance, but merely leaves a color or a greasy trace, its removal is not necessary. If the sunscreen has a physical substance and does not dissolve with water, then Wudu' and Ghusl (ritual bath) are not valid with it. And whoever performed Wudu' and prayed with it must repeat the prayers they offered.
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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